The Nobility of Failure
by Heleentje
Summary: Fudou Yusei does not fail. Therefore he is not Fudou Yusei.


This fic takes place after the end of 5D's, so pretty massive spoilers for all of that. For those of you following the twitter accounts of the staff, this takes none of that information into account, so instead of 200 years in the future, the whole destruction part happens about 10-15 years after the main events of canon, with all relevant consequences. This also puts a bit of a different spin on a major revelation in canon.

**Warning:** Character deaths, spoilers for the ending of 5D's.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's.

**The Nobility of Failure**

Fudou Yusei doesn't fail.

_It was easy, a comforting fact that kept them all happy and alive. Fudou Yusei had saved them from the Ark Cradle and he would save them from the peril lurking in the future. Fudou Yusei would always be able to avert whatever danger they were facing._

Some things never change. Some things should never change.

_They thought they'd succeeded. With the Ark Cradle gone, Neo Domino City was safe. And even though they'd had to make sacrifices they'd never wanted to make, in the end seeing the city flourishing was a reward all by itself. Of course, Yusei still had work to do. The specter of Z-ONE's future still loomed heavily over them and it was his responsibility to avert it. That was why he'd gotten the permission to create the Fortune project. If he could change Momentum, he could change the future._

_And it worked admirably. Fortune made the Momentum reactors more effective than ever and the city developed at a rate not seen since before Zero Reverse. He could make Bruno's future a bright one. People were dueling everywhere now. The city was beautiful and safe and the people believed he'd always save them. After a while, Yusei even started believing it himself._

_And then everything collapsed._

He wakes up in a dark room that smells of smoke, with no memory of how he got there and a persistent headache. For one horrible disorienting moment he thinks he's trapped, but then he realizes that the smoke is coming from outside. The world is still on fire. The last thing he remembers is pain and helplessness, and the overwhelming desire to make it all better. Because that's what he does, isn't it? Only he fai-

He catches a glimpse of himself in a large mirror shard and traces the edge of the metal surgically embedded in his skull. What does it mean? It doesn't matter, because there's screaming and he can see his D-Wheel right outside. That's what he does, right? He saves people.

_Yusei didn't know how he survived. Maybe it was the Crimson Dragon, still looking out for him even though he wasn't a Signer anymore. Maybe it was just dumb luck. Either way, when the building with the Fortune engine became the center of the chaos, Yusei was away for an out-of-town project. He returned immediately when the first reports came in, but by that time it was too late. Neo Domino was being destroyed before his very eyes. He'd failed to change the future. He'd failed to save-_

_Oh please no._

_He headed into the city, desperately looking for survivors, but where Martha's orphanage had been, there was only a burned out building, with cracked windows and stains that were too red for him to do anything but run away from. _

Outside it's utter madness. After several days of destruction, the human race still proves itself to be resistant, and many people have armed themselves against the Machine Emperors. He manages to upgrade his D-Wheel himself, and sets out to save as many people as he can. When they see him, they regain hope. He has inspired so many people in the past, hasn't he? But in the past he failed.

Can he fail?

It's not right.

But he keeps failing, over and over again, sees hundreds die before his very eyes, and suddenly he knows. The metal. The memories that all blur together. It makes sense now.

Fudou Yusei cannot fail.

Therefore he is not Fudou Yusei.

_Jack he found in the streets, only a few blocks away from Neo Domino's newspaper corporation. He was barely alive when Yusei got there, and Yusei stayed with him, unable to do anything at all in the chaos that had overtaken the city. The Machine Emperors were real, and he couldn't do anything against them. When Jack died, Yusei didn't cry. Crying obscured your vision. Crying made you a target._

_By an unhappy miracle, some news trickled in from Europe. Yusei would rather he'd never known at all. The city of London had been obliterated, first destroyed by the Machine Emperors and then flooded when the Thames Barrier broke. Rua and Ruka … He had no hope for them. Vaguely he hoped Aki had survived, but the whole of Europe was on fire. Yusei never found Crow. Only a collapsed building where he should have been._

_He knew that one person had to have survived, though. The one person he'd purposely avoided the pro leagues for. He would still be out there._

It gives him a sense of peace. He can't be Fudou Yusei, because Fudou Yusei would've saved the world already. He doesn't know who he is, but he has vague memories of being a scientist, and he decides that it makes sense. Only a scientist would know how to change his appearance to Fudou Yusei's. There are other memories in his head, but they make no sense and so he dismisses them. Where would he ever have seen a red dragon? Dragons don't exist outside Duel Monsters.

If only he could save just a few people… He manages, once in a while. There's a red-headed kid who looks vaguely familiar. The boy keeps crying for his parents, and he can't take care of a child, so he drops him off with a resistance group that promises to take care of him.

He is driving through the barren remains of what was once one of the most beautiful places in the city when he spots a Machine Emperor bearing down on a lone figure in the distance. He spurs on his D-Wheel, but the Machine Emperor is already too close. He won't make it in time.

And then he catches a glimpse of blue hair and he _shoots._

It's too far away, the shot shouldn't hit, but somehow, every fiber of his body knows that this man has to live. So he watches as his shot, impossibly, impacts with the Machine Emperor and blows it away before it can kill-

_Bruno_

-whoever it is. He comes to a stop at the edge of a cliff just as the man looks up, and he knows, even with the visor the man is wearing, that his eyes are gray. He has no idea why he wants this man, little more than a child, to live more than anyone else, but he does.

_Somewhere out there, there were four people who would most certainly survive this horror and rather selfishly, Yusei admitted that he only really cared about one of them. Maybe he could find them. Though he wasn't really supposed to survive, was he? Z-ONE hadn't been him. He wouldn't live to see the end of the world. In a way it was a relief. _

_Collapsing buildings were a hazard all over the city now, and Yusei didn't hear the rumbling until it was already too late. When he woke up, it was with a large stone deeply embedded in his skull. It was keeping him alive, he realized. Without it he would've bled to death. It was so tempting to just pull it out, let himself die here and now, but no. He knew this place. One of the old science labs was just up ahead. _

_He was Fudou Yusei, and even though he'd failed before, if he managed to fix himself now he might just be able to fix the world._

"I'm Antinomy," the man says, and for a second he feels a wave of wrongness, but it's not like they've ever met before and Antinomy can call himself whatever he wants. He gently detaches Antinomy's hand from his and walks towards his D-Wheel. Antinomy follows, as if afraid that he'd leave him behind. What a silly thing to be afraid of.

"Come on then, Bruno," he says absentmindedly, and only stops when he notices Antinomy isn't following anymore.

"How did you know my name?" Antinomy asks, wide-eyed, and he realizes that he has no idea. The name is there, in his mind, and he knows it's right. Only he doesn't know why.

"You're," Antinomy hesitates, "Fudou Yusei, aren't you?"

"No," he says, because he can't be. There's one more name in his head, and suddenly it all slots together perfectly. "No. My name is Z-ONE."

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><p><em>Comments, questions and concrit much appreciated!<em>


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